


i'm all alone and i need you now

by melodypond_thewomanwhomarriedme



Series: mattex ficlets! [6]
Category: Doctor Who RPF
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-18 00:07:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29109054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melodypond_thewomanwhomarriedme/pseuds/melodypond_thewomanwhomarriedme
Summary: His phone rings at 3 in the morning, waking him up from a peaceful slumber.“‘ello?” he answers, flopping back down on the bed. The room around him is dark and the rain is pattering outside his window - the perfect weather to sleep in.However, the sound on the other side of the phone wakens him.
Relationships: Alex Kingston/Matt Smith
Series: mattex ficlets! [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2135766
Kudos: 9





	i'm all alone and i need you now

**Author's Note:**

> fic title from Need You Now by Lady A

His phone rings at 3 in the morning, waking him up from a peaceful slumber. 

“‘ello?” he answers, flopping back down on the bed. The room around him is dark and the rain is pattering outside his window - the perfect weather to sleep in. 

However, the sound on the other side of the phone wakens him. 

“Matt - I, I -” Alex is stuttering and he sits up, frowning. She sounds like she’s been crying for quite some time, hiccupping and sniffing after every other word, struggling to get a full sentence out coherently. 

“Alex?” Matt asks, eyes wide in alarm. “What’s wrong, sweetheart? Did something happen?”

It’s hard to decipher what she’s saying, but he manages to catch a few words like ‘collapsed’, ‘hospital’, ‘mother’ and ‘coma’. By those few words, he’s able to work out what she means.

“Okay, okay - Alex, calm down, sweetheart. It’ll be okay. Where are you?” he asks calmly, trying not to panic himself - Alex told him about her mother’s health condition before, but he shudders to think of the possibility that he could be losing his mother-in-law tonight. 

“I - I’m waiting for a cab. At the hotel,” she manages, still sobbing quietly. “Ruth helped me book a flight to London, I’ll be there in three hours.”

“I’ll pick you up at the airport.” he says immediately, getting up and looking around their bedroom - it’s been a mess since Alex left to film in Scotland a few weeks ago. 

Since their wedding just six months ago, they promised each other they wouldn’t spend too much time apart - filming in Scotland seemed reasonable enough for both of them, given the distance and time differences. He thanks the heavens above that she isn’t all the way in LA, where the commute would surely drain her even more, in addition to all the stress she must be having now. 

“I’ll bring everything and we can drive to the hospital, alright?” he says into the phone quietly, listening to his wife sob silently on the other side. He wants nothing more than to hold her tightly, but he knows that he just needs to be patient - just a few hours more and he’ll see her. “It’ll be okay, Alex. Get some sleep on the plane, I’ll see you soon.”

She sniffles and pauses a little. “Thank you,” she whispers. “I love you.”

“I love you too, sweetheart.” he whispers back.

*

She’s so pale. That’s the first thing Matt notices - how pale she is, how the bags under her eyes have darkened considerably since he last went to visit her just a week ago on set. Her eyes are red and her nose blotchy, and it’s clear she hadn’t managed to rest at all on her flight. 

She looks so utterly exhausted and he just wants to wrap her up in his arms and give her some strength. 

When she finally makes eye contact with him, her eyes well up with tears again. He rushes over to her and gives her the biggest hug he can muster, pressing her close to him tightly and kissing her hair. 

“I’m so happy to see you,” she tells him, hugging him back as tight as she can. “I’ve been so worried, I couldn’t sleep at all.”

“It’s okay, you can sleep in the car - I packed a few clothes for us and called ahead, Nicola helped get our room ready.” he tells her, pulling away and cupping her face gently. He wipes his thumb over her cheeks, wiping her tears away. “Hey, it’s okay, alright? It’ll be okay.”

“Promise?” she asks quietly, her lips trembling as she stares up at him with wide eyes. 

“Promise, Kingston.” he whispers, pressing a lingering kiss to his lips. “Let’s get out of here, people are starting to stare.”

She nods and he bends down to grab her luggage, holding her hand tightly in his as they make their way to their parked car. 

*

“Dad said he doesn’t want to see you until the evening,” Matt hears Nicola’s voice through Alex’s phone. “Sleep first, Alex. If there’s anything new, we’ll call you. Pinky promise.”

“I can’t just -  _ sleep _ here when Mum is -”

“You sound exhausted,” Nicola says. “Matt says you didn’t sleep on the plane. If you show up here, Dad will be even more upset.”

Alex covers her face with her hands and sighs helplessly, falling backwards onto the couch again and wiping tears away with the back of her hand. 

“Fine. I’ll see you later.”

“Good. Rest well,” Nicola says, much gentler than before. “Night.”

“Night.” 

Alex throws her phone onto the coffee table and looks at Matt, seated on the loveseat and sipping his hot tea carefully. Reaching for her own cup, she glares at him. 

“Did you really have to tell her that I didn’t sleep on the plane?” she asks.

“I’m not apologising for making you rest, Alex,” he says seriously. His wife looks more distressed than ever and he feels helpless, like she’s already beginning to revert back to nasty old habits from before they were dating. “Come on, we can go to sleep together.”

“I don’t want that.” she shakes her head. 

“Alex,” he starts, sighing heavily. “Please, I -”

“I can’t sleep. I really,  _ really _ can’t - I’ve tried,” she says, sounding so exhausted and worn. “I keep - I -”

She cuts herself off, looking down at the ground. She’s close to tears again, he can tell - she hasn’t stopped crying since he picked her up from the airport, or even before that, he suspects. He stands and sits next to her, taking her hands and pushing himself into her space. She doesn’t fight him, welcoming him gratefully, even swinging her leg over his so that she’s sat on his lap.

He holds her tightly, stroking her hair and her back gently as he whispers in her ear. He’s never seen Alex this upset before and he wants it to end soon - he never wants to see her so exhausted and depressed ever again. 

“Love you,” she whispers.

“Love you too,” he whispers back.

After just fifteen minutes, she falls asleep in his arms.


End file.
